It’s not as though online poker doesn’t have its hand full thanks to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. Now, thanks to fears of global economic instability that are emerging due to fears of a prolonged U.S. recession, some poker sites are left with no other choice but to close down. Duplicate Poker is the latest online site to buck under the pressure and halt operations altogether.

Players who play at Duplicate Poker will find an apologetic and sad farewell on the company’s homepage. The US-facing site explains that the economic crunch has rendered them unable to continue operations. Although Duplicate Poker formally closed down on October 5, 2008, the message was optimistic that the site could once again be up and running once the financial crisis is over. Hey, this could happen. Remember, Lazarus resurrected from the dead.

Duplicate Poker gained some popularity because of the site’s unique and unusual format. The site implemented a format that sought to remove luck from the equation and therefore, get around the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. What? Remove luck from a poker game? Is this really possible?

To do this, a game must be played on multiple tables where players are dealt the same hole cards and community cards. Player chips are refilled for each hand. To win, you must win more chips than the players dealt the same hands. Confusing? Maybe this is also a factor in the site’s demise.

Those who have money left in their accounts should not worry. Duplicate Poker isn’t planning to steal your poker money. Players can still check the amount of money left in their bankrolls and withdraw their balance through the homepage. For more information, visit http://www.duplicatepoker.com.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 6th, 2008 at 3:37 am and is filed under Online Poker. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.